Staithes rooftops

Staithes rooftops

This was worth walking up a hill and missing breakfast for... although I did have second thoughts once I was set up and began to draw in the complicated arrangement of shapes. When I say 'draw' I do mean with the brush and paint. With an architectural type subject I start with a linear sketch-in with a smallish brush, but I am always keen to move onto large value shapes as soon as I can. With a subject like this it's too easy to get lost in detail at the expense of the mood or get so worried about accuracy that you run out of time and lose the light. Luckily I had a strict time deadline which got me reaching for the big brushes and I got what I was after here.

This painting is now available to purchase at Staithes art gallery.

There is a brush set with ten of the brushes that I most commonly use available from Rosemary & Co. Click here for details :-)

Lyme Regis harbour

Lyme Regis harbour
8" x 10"

While we're on a maritime theme here's a little plein air study from beautiful Lyme Regis a couple of weeks ago. I was in Somerset for a demo and I was in Lyme Regis just to have a lovely day with my good friend Jean Stevens. And fish and chips, of course. We got dive bombed by seagulls, boy are they big and scary when they swoop down on your head!

Managed one painting and I loved the view from up here. Although it was a really bright day it was very breezy. So much so that it was one of those sessions that you really can't place a brushwork exactly where you want it because the wind takes your arm.

Evening light, Harwich

Evening light, Harwich
24 x 30 cms

At the end of the first day of teaching in Harwich (a chilly day with a strong north-easterly wind) I took my paints back out to the Quayside. It wasn't weather conditions for the faint hearted, but once I'd seen this subject well... I couldn't care less about the practical difficulties. I just get so excited and carried away... I only noticed I was shivering with cold when I was packing up afterwards.

I LOVED the red flags and of course the dazzling light on the sea. It was a real challenge because the boat was silhouetted against the water but there was still colour to be seen within that silhouetted shape, but very very muted. Even the bright red flags had to actually be painted as dirty reddish greys. A great learning experience, and I was really happy with the end result and happy that I'd earned my hot dinner.

Blue sail

Blue sail
8" x 10"

Here's another new and exciting small work that features in my exhibition, one of my favourites. I love the dynamic shadows and the lines of the ropes that appear and disappear, like a dance of sunlight. It's got all the ingredients that keep me on my toes with painting - shape and suggestion, lost and found edges. 

If you'd like to enquire about any of these paintings before the exhibition opens next week please get in touch and I can happily reserve them for you.

Solo exhibition in Nottingham 'A lighter touch' opens on Friday 13th November until Sunday 22nd November, at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH. I will be in the gallery each day and showing around 70 new paintings. We will have late night openings until 7.30pm on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Friday 20th. All other days opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm. Ten days only, don't miss it! 

Evening sailing

Evening sailing, St Mawes
14" x 18"

This is one of my favourite painting spots so you may well recognise this view. I was particularly keen to abstract and soften the buildings to focus attention on that dazzling light on the water. The action in the harbour is represented by a few strokes of light and dark and a couple of more intense spots of colour. 

I'm really busy getting ready for my new solo show in Nottingham, which opens in just a couple of weeks! There is so much 'last minute' preparation underway but it's all very exciting. I really hope you can make it!

Solo exhibition in Nottingham 'A lighter touch' opens on Friday 13th November until Sunday 22nd November, at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH. I will be in the gallery each day and showing around 70 new paintings. We will have late night openings until 7.30pm on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Friday 20th. All other days opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm. Ten days only, don't miss it!

Bay view

Room with a view, Portscatho

I couldn't resist painting the view from the window and the whole window and a part of the little fisherman's shelter! Fun to paint my paintings within a painting.
 It was such a wonderful place to spend a couple of days. Can you imagine having a studio with a sea view like this? What a dream :-)

Room with a view

Painting this morning in the fisherman's shelter 

Could this be the most idyllic setting for an exhibition ever? I think so. I'm feeling very lucky to be here with my little exhibition overlooking Portscatho harbour for two days. 

As you can see the sun was shining today and it could not have been more lovely!

You can see all the paintings in the exhibition for a limited time only on the Harbour Gallery website. Which is your favourite? 

Fisherman's shelter

Fisherman's shelter, Portscatho
8" x 10"

Just so that you can find me when you come by for a celebratory drink tomorrow evening (Tuesday 25th August) 6.30 - 8.00 pm, this is where I'll be - at the fisherman's shelter in Portscatho, Cornwall. Right by the harbour and the red telephone box, you can't miss it. 

I'll also be painting at this fab venue on Wednesday and Thursday from 11.00 am - 4.00 pm.

I have a poor mobile phone signal around here and no internet access in the daytime so if you need more information please contact Mark at the Harbour Gallery. We can't wait to see you in this idyllic place :-)

A favourite spot!

Outgoing tide and ferry, St Mawes
Oils 11" x 14"

Here's another from my Cornwall DVD, one of my favourite places to paint - St Mawes. I love it here when the sunlight is dancing on the water but even on a cloudy day it's a terrific place to find a subject. Pendennis castle in Falmouth can be seen on the distant headland here.

Detail of harbour area

I absolutely loved the sight of the ropes contrasted against the harbour wall. For a detail like this in a alla prima painting I have to use an extremely light touch and a swift movement. It can't be done falteringly. I always hold my breath while I do it!

Detail of sky and sea

Tethered, Monterey

Tethered, Monterey
24" x 26"

I came across this scene during my last walk around Monterey, the day I flew back in April. It was also the day I lost my cute daisy earring twice, once in my hotel room from where I managed to rescue it and then for the second and final time in the taxi bus on the way to the airport. But that's another story.

I was captivated by these reflections in the shallow water of the harbour. To be honest, everything is a subject here in the Monterey - because of the incredible light! I painted this in the studio on my return. I really got stuck in to the marks and just pushing and scraping the paint around.

It's had quite a pleasant cooling effect on me in the studio, during the mini heatwave we've had this week in Lincolnshire.

Lucky are the artists who live on this coastline in California!

Explaining my absence...

Tall ships at Falmouth docks
Oils 12" x 16" unframed 16" x 20" framed
£950

I should have sent you a postcard, I know... but I've been a busy girl dashing about all over the place again. I've had the pleasure of five days of painting in Cornwall, mostly at Falmouth where tall ships from around the world were moored for the first time since 2008, for the Falmouth to Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Regatta. 

What a fantastic carnival atmosphere there was! There were thousands and thousands of people there and it was pretty hard to find a spot to paint at times. It can be pretty overwhelming in such a crowded place, but once you've staked your spot by setting up your easel and start working you can pretty well block the rest out and you become sort of a part of the scenery.

For the last month or so I've been taking advantage of the fine weather and taking canvasses out with me to paint, rather than panels or boards. I've absolutely loved painting on the soft yielding surface of canvas. It's always been my preferred choice for the studio but takes a little bit more effort to carry outside and isn't ideal on a windy day.

My favourite size to use outside has been 12" x 16" and sometimes 14" x 18" and I will be exhibiting my latest paintings from France and Cornwall at Patchings art centre near Nottingham, where my very 

next solo exhibition will open on October 4th.

Yes it's very soon and yes I'm very busy finishing and framing, signing and varnishing right now!

Click here for details :-)

Detail 

If you can't wait til then to get your hands on one of my tall ships paintings and claim it for yourself then you might like to take a look at the Harbour Gallery as Mark already has three hanging up on the walls, all framed up and looking beautiful, including this one.

Squeezing in wherever I could get a view!

Low tide in the harbour, Mousehole

Low tide in the harbour, Mousehole

While I fly to Morocco today I thought I would just leave you with another Mousehole painting with a different feel. Again this is the harbour but here you see it's low tide and there are still lots of boats. I painted this en plein air in October. I was looking across the glare of light on the wet sand, and had to work fast as the sky was rapidly changing. I like the directness of the marks on this piece.

This is one of three paintings now available for sale at the Little Picture Gallery in Mousehole, Cornwall.

Silver light at Mousehole

Silver light at Mousehole
8" x 10"

On the one day that it didn't rain for me in Mousehole this is the other painting I achieved, and I'm really pleased with it. You get such blinding sunlight on the water in Mousehole when the sun is shining. Although this looks a lot like a sunset it was actually painted in the morning. In the foreground of the painting you can see that it's high tide in the harbour. The other noticeable feature is the one boat. In winter the vast majority of boats are taken out of the harbour and onto dry land to decrease the risk of damage. A very good thing too when you consider the awful storms we've had this winter.

When I next visit Mousehole in April there will be a lot of boats back in the water, which is good for me for painting. Although, I do very much like this simple uncluttered scene too.

The colours in the dark area of the harbour wall have subtle differences of hue and value which are not apparent on the photo really.

All three of these paintings were delivered on Friday and available to buy now at the Harbour Gallery.

Today I am travelling to a hotel at Gatwick airport ready to fly to Marrakech in the early hours of tomorrow. I may not have any access to wifi while I'm over there so if you don't hear from me that's why. I'll show you all the paintings when I get back.

Perfect summer's day

A perfect summer's day, Portscatho

After four mostly rainy days in Cornwall when I had to leave on Friday the weather had transformed into a mini heatwave with sunshine and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It goes like that sometimes. Hopefully my week in Morocco will be dry. 

Although I didn't get very much plein air painting achieved last week I did at least have time to finish this studio painting of Portscatho harbour. I'm afraid the photo above doesn't really do it justice.

It's now available for purchase at the Harbour Gallery in Portscatho along with many others. Take a better look here.

And... I remembered to take some photos of the work in progress as I know you like to see that :-)

Heading out of harbour

Moving on

The work carried on in the studio, I would do a little bit one day and then leave it alone for a fortnight. Then go in for another attack... and so on.

Here you see me stating the majority colour in the water area quite early on. I find that it's helpful to get strong colours in early so that you can see how well they will work together. I don't just mean strong in saturation, but also strong as in they will make up a large part of the painting. The blue in the water for example, which is pretty dull in hue but covers a large area and therefore is important.

Getting the lightest values

This was an obvious next step - getting in the highlights and lightest values. I also found I needed to lighten in value the red areas. 

I used a Rembrandt cadmium red light which is a gorgeous colour.

Darkening up the background also brought that red forward, let it have it's limelight!

The figures and background all had further work, and I made those white sails really sharp and opaque.

This is the finished painting...

Heading out of harbour
16" x 20"

Heading out of harbour - the start

Very beginning, a simple painted line to work out the composition

Ok, while I'm packing for Cornwall I thought I could show you this recent studio painting in stages. 

You know how much I loved that red sail don't you? I couldn't resist another go at it. I'm still not sure I'm over it!

In fact I'm seeking out sails this summer... watch this space as they say.

I began with a fine linen canvas panel which I had already tinted with a diluted umber. 

Adding diluted paint to create tonal areas

After a rough linear sketch I began working on tonal values, again with paint thinned with turps. 

Initial turpsy washes of paint drying flat

Then I couldn't wait to add a bit of red! This photo shows the painting drying flat because the washes were so runny and I wanted them to pretty much stay put! By the way, everything hadn't suddenly turned green! My camera picked it up as green at this point, must have been dazzled by the red.

Incidentally, is it just me or is it too soon to be March? Apologies to those awaiting workshop news I just haven't had the time yet. On the plus side though it's great to be so busy :-)

Wet sand at Mousehole

Wet sand at Mousehole
Oils 24 x 30cms

Another plein air piece from my October trip to Cornwall. The addition of a couple of figures really helps to inform us about the scale of the subject. Again a complicated scene that needed simplifying down to the bare essentials. With the benefit of a couple of photos I could tackle this again as a slightly more refined studio piece but unfortunately I haven't worked out how to successfully take photos looking towards the light yet. Yes that's right, had new posh camera more than four months now and still haven't learnt anything outside of the 'auto' setting!

Here's some news that may be of interest to any of you living in the south of England. I'm going to be teaching a day workshop on 'painting seascapes in acrylics' at the Old Bank Studios in Harwich Essex on Saturday 26th April 2014. I would love to see you there if you can make it :-)
Click here for the website and booking information.

Razzle dazzle

Razzle dazzle at Mousehole harbour
Oils 24 x 30 cms
SOLD

They say no news is good news and the reason I haven't been in touch for a few days is that I've been so busy planning great events for 2014 which I will look forward very much to sharing with you. I've also been painting away in the studio and although I haven't got anything finished to show you yet I will be able to share step by step photos when I do. Plus I'm working on two articles currently for The Artist magazine and reading a couple of my latest Amazon purchases - one is a David Curtis book from 1994 and the other is 'Catching the light, the art and life of Henry Scott Tuke'. I've finally got around to watching the film 'Summer in February' about Alfred Munnings' time in Cornwall with Laura and Harold Knight, and I've eaten through most of my large supply of birthday chocolate. I have no more day workshops in 2013 but I'm looking forward to visiting Horncastle art club and York art society for demos this side of Christmas.

This is a painting from last month's trip to Cornwall. It was quite a challenge to simplify all that but so thrilling to try. This subject would definitely be worth revisiting in the studio. I have pushed the sky completely out of the composition to focus on that intense area of light on the water and the lead-in lines of the ropes in the foreground.

Sails up in harbour, Paimpol

Sails up in harbour, Paimpol
SOLD

Here you go, the completed painting! Hope you like it. I really do, it was so worth me being a little more patient than usual. I can't wait to give it a coat of retouching varnish because it will really bring out the deep dark colours and provide a pleasing all over sheen. Next job is the framing!

And here's a close-up...

Big red onwards and upwards

Stage 5

So as I said yesterday at the end of stage 4 I thought I wasn't far off finished, but still I continued. I next wanted to get those cream coloured sails really clean and bright in places, and for that I used a mix of naples yellow light and white. I had made those reflections of the sails (both the red and 'white') much darker too. Pow! The light was really starting to show now.

Detail at stage 5

Stage 6

I began to think about placing figures, although got off to a faltering start at first and scraped them off. At least I had a better idea of where I was going to place them then. I also defined the sky area. And I had fun putting those little Breton flags in!

Stage 7

You can see that in stage 7 it was the turn of the background buildings to get a little attention. From the general wishy-washy darkness I started to pick out structure and details. I continued with that in the Stage 8 pic shown below.

Stage 8

Detail at stage 9

Figures started to go in and by now I was really near to being happy it was finished. Hope you've enjoyed watching the build up. Next time I'll show you the completed painting!